Monday, 30 April 2012

As you know, last week I joined in on Danielle'sEarth Day blog hop which ties in to her passion for being kinder to the Earth and finding greener ways to craft. I learn such a lot from her and always smile at her ability to make me think about my scrapbooking in new and interesting ways while being environmentally conscious at the same time.

Recently, she challenged her readers to come up with creative ways to use up their spare toilet rolls. We all have them, we all end up throwing them away but how much better to find a way to reuse them in some crafty project.

At first I thought about going back to my childhood and turning "Blue Peter" with ideas of kiddie pen holders or something similar but then decided to use Pinterest to give me some more grown up ideas. Man, are there some incredible projects out there. Just search and be impressed!

I chose a wreath project (here) and as I only had a few rolls, went small scale and made a mini-version. I glittered all the edges and added some book paper flowers (inspired by Nic H's True Scrap class last weekend) and hey presto, something new is hanging on my wall making me smile.

I'm a bit challenged as far as home decor items go - it's not really my forté if it's not a 12x12 page, but I'm happy with the outcome and may well have a go at something a bit more full scale.

So, drag out those loo rolls and get creative. Join in on Danielle'schallenge for the chance to win some goodies. And while you're at it, subscribe to her blog for ongoing green inspiration!

Sunday, 29 April 2012

I decided to really go to town this month and also create a mini card kit but keeping to the wonderfully bright and happy colours of my main kit, Blossom.

I raided my cardstock box and decided to make up a whole pile of note cards in various colours - mostly 6x4 although some are slightly larger and some are slightly smaller depending on what fell into my hands right at that moment. The main thing in that they all fit into a standard German "normal" sized envelope to keep it within normal postal costs.

Then I rummaged through my scrap paper boxes and grabbed some vibrant pieces in yellow, green, red, pink, multi and whatever else caught my eye. I was determined this was going to be rainbow bright.

After that, I picked out some neglected stickers and flatter embellishments that I no longer want to use on layouts but that I still like and might be suitable for cards.

Last but not least, I looked online for some card sketches and printed them all out. This is a huge mini kit but I knew that I just wanted to run off a selection of small note cards which would be quick to make but with plenty of room to write a few lines and ultimately pretty to receive. I'm an old-fashioned hand letter writer!

And this is the result! 28, yes 28 note cards! Most of them have a super simple style and feature whatever flat embellishments fitted the space I had and just a word sticker, rub ons or some old Love Elsie epoxy stickers to give a general sentiment rather than anything specific. These are really generic little notes and I love how they turned out.

I used the Sketch Support card sketch # 12 for these (see sketches at the end of the post):

Here I just punched out a huge pile of 3cm squares and attached them to an A4 sheet of paper to make a patchwork look. Then I simply cut the sheet into quarters and attached it to my notecards. So cute!

And the sweet banner card sketch # 13 from Sketch Support proved so quick and easy using up the tiniest scraps that I ended up making a whole bunch of them!

Here are the three sketches I used. If you haven't checked out Sketch Support before, I highly recommend it. There is some wonderful inspiration over there and they have a whole selection of single and double page layouts as well as an array of card sketches. Ideal for someone like me.

Why not try some mini notelets of your own - it's an ideal way to use up your scraps and make someone happy in the post!

Saturday, 28 April 2012

Mini challenge #3 is up over at the Counterfeit Kit Challenge and it's all about getting those über-trendy washi tapes out and being creative with them.

Washi tapes are quite new for me although I've had some of the TH tissue tapes for a year or so now and love using them. But the last time I was at my LSS I picked up three toning rolls and then added them into this month's kit, Blossom. I also picked up a bright red one from a local home deco store and added it in too. You might have spotted me sneaking them onto one or two of the layouts I've done recently and have really enjoyed the ease and look of them. This challenge had me thinking again.

I added in a piece of kraft cardstock because the tape picks up the background colour to some degree and didn't really think it would go with bright pink or yellow. I ended up deciding to actually decorate the cardstock with it but keep it really simple. I love the subtle effect and the rest of the design and colour scheme followed naturally.

A cute but older photo of my two brothers and sister from just before I left the UK made me realise just how much they've grown up and become adults in the time since then. Sweet photo, sweet thoughts.

What will you be doing with your washi tape? Don't forget to link up over at the CKC site!

Wednesday, 25 April 2012

Look what arrived in the post for me on Friday - totally out of the blue and unexpected!
My very sweet LOAD and Whimsical Musings friend, Lynette, sent me this rather sweet care package filled to the brim with Cadbury's Easter eggs because she knows it's my absolute favourite but I can't get it here in Germany :-(

Just how thoughtful is that?

There was a beautiful painted box filled with the cutest little Easter nest complete with a selection of eggs - perfect for display.

And a gift bag overflowing with yet more Cadbury's and as a nod to her family's involvement with the confectionary competitor Mars, a PINK M&M box.

Then there was a gorgeous sheet of map paper that had reminded Lynette of me and of course I adore that - you know that I have a thing for maps! And it's called Notting Hill and has touches of pink so it's me all over! And if that wasn't enough, my LOAD and Whimsical Musings friend, Leslie, had sent a few items for me too - look at all those stunning doilies and the Polaroid frames! How gorgeous!

Even though Easter is pretty much over, the nest is so pretty that I'm thinking another week of pretty decorations is called for! Of course, I can't vouch for how long the chocolate will survive! ;-)

So a BIGthank you to my super sweet, thoughtful friends who managed to bring a huge smile to my face on a day when I was ever so slightly (under-exaggerating here!) stressed out!

Tuesday, 24 April 2012

This post was originally scheduled to post automatically but Blogger seems to be having a teenage hissy fit and nothing is posting. Anyway, anyone else having this problem?

You might think I've been a bit quiet on the scrapbooking front recently and that my Counterfeit kits have been sorely neglected. Not so! There's been a whole lot of scrapping going on behind the scenes that I hope to be able to share with you soon.

In the meantime, I'd like to show you two layouts I created for Whimsical Musings but haven't shared here yet.

The first layout features last month's Counterfeit kit, Soothe and is the 6th layout I got from the kit. (Now up to #7) This was for the WM prompt about scrapping a relationship not yet recorded and is about my wonderful Philippine friend Alice. She was my best friend while I lived in Manila and we were both delighted to have the chance to meet up here in Germany when she took a detour over here during a European tour. It was so wonderful to see her and her husband again after 14 years and we took up right where we left off! There's quite a lot of symbolism here as I incorporated the colours of the Philippine flag (gold, white, blue and red) and there are also a few knots to represent our friendship. I created the main part of the layout and journaled before realising there was more I wanted to say, so I just created another 6x12 sheet for more words. Perfect.

And this is just a fun layout for the WM prompt I gave to be inspired by a few of my favourite Easter table photos, the photo on this layout being one of them.

I just decided to play with the wonderful colours I've put into this month's Blossom kit and make it cutesy and playful. This is layout #3 so far with at least three or four more in there I think.

Sunday, 22 April 2012

This is the second post on my blog today - yeah, I know, I don't blog for ages and ages and then there's two on one day! - so if you'd like to check out the post I have here for the Counterfeit Kit Challenge mini challenge #2, please scroll down to the next entry (here) :-)

But this is my contribution to the Earth Day bloghop organised by Danielle over at EcoScrapbook so WELCOME!

If you've arrived here from Zaira, you are on the right track but if you've landed here directly, you might want to pop back to Danielle's blog to start at the beginning. I happen to know that there *might* be a prize to be won along the way so be sure to visit us all!

I started off thinking about what Earth Day means to me and how I try to be kind to the Earth on a day to day basis.

Living here in Germany, we do a LOT of recycling which has become really important to me. It takes a bit of time to do and you need to think about it all the time when you are dealing with rubbish but it has become second nature to me.

This, for example, is just a snap of some of the recycling we do in our household:

We have two rubbish bins - one for normal rubbish and one for what we call "yellow" bag rubbish which is basically any product featuring the green point/or the recycling symbol.

Practically all the packaging that comes into our house goes in there. Then there's glass bottles which will go to the bottle bank, paper which will be thrown into the paper rubbish bin outside, corks that I return to the wine shop and batteries which can be dropped into battery recycling boxes in almost any shop or public building. There's also a big bag there full of plastic drinks bottles which are either one way or multi-way deposit bottles. Anything up to €0.25 per bottle which of course is an incentive to take them back to the shop. Most drinks are purchased in returnable bottles and crates whether it's glass or plastic and that was possibly the biggest thing to get used to - all those bottles hanging around and needing to be collected and taken back. But after a while anything becomes second nature.

We also have organic rubbish bins outside (garden or kitchen waste) and anything such as light bulbs or cables or electrical trash has to be returned to the city tip where we have to then pay to get rid of it! But if you throw it in the regular trash bins outside you might be fined if the collectors see it - again, it's all about the incentive, whether negative or positive!

We also have textile or clothing recycling, car batteries, metal and all sorts of other items. When you go to the city tip, you have to tell them what you have and they tell you which container you have to use and what you have to pay for the privilege. Rubbish is expensive over here but that helps you to realise the value (negative) of rubbish and how we must find a way to recycle as much as possible.

Different bins, different items.

I feel so virtuous when I go through the motions of separating out all these different items and feel like I'm helping the Earth just a little bit :-)

But how about from the scrapbooking side of things? Well, I'm learning. And I'm learning a LOT from Danielle. I had never really thought about it before "meeting" her even though I've always made sure that the waste I generate in my scrap room gets recycled as above. But since I have, I find myself thinking about it more and more.

Today I even found myself purchasing some eco-friendly tape - who knew? I love that these things are becoming more and more prominent and I thought of Danielle and how she would approve when I picked this up today!

And my wonderful friend Pam helps me to see my products in new and interesting ways, encouraging me in her challenges to me over at Whimsical Musings to use older products, to go greener and use my packaging in interesting ways. She is SO good at making that Prima packaging or the die-cut negatives look wonderful on the page - check out some of her cool layouts {here} or {here} for example.

And I'm going to leave you with two pages I created as part of one of her challenges for WM with the theme of "going green"

Almost everything on this layout is either packaging, repurposed products or non-scrapbooking items

And this layout features hearts cut out from a favourite pair of pj trousers that are worn out but that I loved too much to throw

It's good to take a moment to think about what we can do to support the Earth and green ideas. I'm looking forward to working my way through the hop to learn some new tips.

Your next stop on the hop is Jody (SpiegelMom Scraps!) and in case you need the full list of participants, here you go...

Mini-challenge #2 is to use mini photos or mini elements on our projects - anything 3"x2" or under.

This was fun for me because I use 3x2 all the time so I decided to make mine even smaller and took them down to 2 1/4" x 1 1/2". That way I knew I'd be able to fit 12 on a page without it feeling too full. 12 sounds like a lot of photos but I wanted to get back on the wagon of scrapping my 12on12 photos. I've been taking the photos but not scrapping the pages and now is the time.

I thought that using the April kit for my April photos would be a lot of fun and have decided to change up the design for the new year and was inspired by my good online LOAD/BPC etc friend Cathy to scatter the photos across the page. I think hers must have been even smaller though as she managed to make her pages look far less cluttered than mine. I love these bright colours which seem perfect for spring and to have found a way to use this very busy paper.

And then because I was on a roll and I'd already printed out the March photos, I pulled out the leftovers of my March kit and made another page. Success!

Now all I have to do is work backwards through the months until I reach where I left off back at the end of last summer. All the photos are there, ready and waiting. Oh yes, and funny story... I appear to have made my 12on12 for June 2011 TWICE!

Wednesday, 18 April 2012

I missed a whole Jingle Belles prompt which I'm hoping to catch up with sometime and the latest prompt only runs until the end of today so I was almost out of time there too. I don't really have an excuse. Just busy I suppose.

But I was determined to make time to Jingle along today and create something for this week's cute sketch courtesy of Amy Tsuruta so I just grabbed a few items to create these simple cards and got busy.

I seem to have set my banner a bit low on each of the cards but let's call that creative license, shall we?!?

And I think I will add a small tagged sentiment tied to the ribbon of this one - but good enough for now.

I loved what the team did with this sketch (see here) so I might have to go back and try it again with something a bit more original. But in the meantime, these four cards make up for four weeks I haven't played along. Fingers crossed for better attendance for the next challenge!

Sunday, 15 April 2012

Mini-challenge #1 is up over at the Counterfeit Kit Challenge site and I was delighted to see this gorgeous sketch for us to use. So pretty with the banner at the top and the long banner shapes across the page. So much room for interpretation in this one.

I decided to turn it 90° and use it pretty much as it came. I liked the idea of the blocks of colour and even the colours of those blocks as well as the smaller hanging banner.

I chose some bright colours from my kit and went for it. Once I'd made up the base of the layout, finding photos to match proved a little tricker, but in the end I just went with some happy shots of our Alpine holiday when we learnt to play golf.

I was really happy to find a way to use of some of my pretty tickets because the layout only needed a tiny bit of journalling.

I have seen some of the others' layouts from the DT and you are going to want to check them ALL out - just divine. I will be playing around with this sketch again I think taking some of the ideas they had into my creations.

I'm hoping to get some more from my kit done in the next few days as I've been a bit busy on some secret stuff! Shhhh.... Watch this space.